SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- A group of University of Utah students are launching
an on-campus magazine aimed at the University's LDS students. "The Century"
is expected to debut in September, and already enjoys support from the
niversity's Publications Council, which oversees all 15 student-run
publications on campus, and the university's LDS Institute and from the
local Latter-day Saint Student Association.

The publication will be run by student Erika Threw, who will serve as its
Editor-in-Chief and heads a small group of volunteers who will write and
edit the publication. The Century will start with a circulation of 15,000,
and will replaced the current LDS Institute newsletter.

While Threw says the point isn't to attract controversy, she won't be
surprised if the magazine ruffles some feathers. "Our point with The Century
is that it would be an LDS student voice," says Thew, a junior majoring in
psychology and a returned LDS misisonary.

But the main student newspaper, the Daily Utah Chronicle, has been accused
of catering to an anti-Mormon sentiment and shutting-out Mormon views. Threw
says that The Century will try to "break down the barriers and banish
stereotypes. But more than that, we want to cover, in greater depth, church
news and religious themes as they pertain to college students."

While hard figures on the number of LDS students at the University of Utah
aren't available, Robert Norman, a faculty advistor for the LDS Institute
estimates that about 50 percent of the student body is LDS. The Century will
attempt to draw advertising targeted at those students.

Threw says that The Century's first issue will focus on "making a
difference." The magazine will also publicize LDS Institute events and
spotlight "all the good things that are happening on campus."